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Seeing as I can’t get enough of those I Don’t Need A Special Occasion To Make Cake Cakes and also those Of Course You Can Stop By At The Last Minute (psst, ’cause I’d already made some cake) Cakes, I am clearly long overdue to make a classic French yogurt cake. I first learned about yogurt cakes nearly five years ago from Clotilde; they’re perfect anytime-of-day cakes (bless the French for understanding the utmost importance of this), not too sweet, fluffy and perfect just from the oven or wrapped in plastic for a day or two, as the corners soften. Most people don’t measure them — the math is based on the volume of your yogurt cups (they use two), to which you add an equal amount of sugar, a double amount of flour, a little less than one of oil, two eggs and some leavener and flavors.

Those flavors are usually gentle things, like a bit of lemon zest, or vanilla, a splash of rum or maybe a handful of berries. But I — having all but given up on waiting for the market to produce the things I really want to eat, at least for this weekend — spied a bag of golfball-sized grass-colored limes at Whole Foods this week and did not blink an eye before tossing them onto Jacob’s stroller (I dread when he gets big enough to fill it out, and he can no longer be reasonably expected to schlep groceries home for me) and since I’d already gone down that path, decided not to even pretend that I wanted to resist the 2 for $5 blackberries, admired the pretty pretty grass color against the dark magenta-violet berries and knew at once I’d have to put them together.

Thus, a lime yogurt cake with blackberry sauce came and went in our kitchen this weekend. I honestly think I believed it would turn out purple and green, like a Mardi Gras headpiece or my favorite color combination in 9th grade (ouch). It is for the best that it didn’t, however, as the pale cake just pops when the fresh blackberry sauce cascades over it. You’ll have more than you’ll need and I encourage you to stir in any unused plain yogurt for an easy breakfast. That ends in cake. As all should.

This is another one of those recipes where I’ve changed, uh, just about everything. What it shares in common with the original is yogurt and the basic proportions. To this I’ve added lime zest and juice and a blackberry sauce that shares a hint of the lime. I also rejiggered the instructions to make this a one bowl cake — you know, the most welcome kind.

Don’t etch this recipe in stone — this could make an equally tasty lemon cake with blueberry, raspberry or strawberry sauce or even a gentle orange yogurt cake, simply dusted with powdered sugar. The sauce is optional, but when you find that you have extra (you will, unless you halve it) it makes as welcome a sauce over ice cream as it does stirred into your leftover plain yogurt.

Sauce
12 ounces fresh blackberries (frozen should work as well, but you should start with half the water)
1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease the sides of a 9-inch round cake pan or springform pan with oil (I used a butter and flour spray out of habit, which works as well) and line the bottom with parchment paper if the pan is not springform.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the yogurt, oil, sugar, lime zest and juice. Add the eggs one by one, whisking well after each addition. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together, right over your yogurt batter. Stir with a spoon until just combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and let stand for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the pan to loosen. If you’re using the springform pan, unclasp the sides. Otherwise, flip the cake onto a plate and flip it back on the rack. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

Make sauce: Combine blackberries, water, sugar and lime juice in blender or food processor. Purée until very smooth, then press through a fine mesh strainer to remove the seeds. Cover and refrigerate until cold.

Do ahead: This cake keeps very well for up to three days (or so I hear, but have not practiced), wrapped in plastic at room temperature. The sauce can be made up three days in advance, as well. It can also be frozen for future uses.

370 comments on lime yogurt cake with blackberry sauce

Yummy!! This looks so good and I am need of an amazing dessert for a party today and the blackberries at the market looked so good yesterday…I think I know what to make…Deb you never disappoint! Thanks!!

Yummy! I’ve been staring at a yogurt lemon loaf recipe all week but I have limes in my fridge and a bowl of defrosting blackberry and peaches (I was clearing out the freezer yesterday) so I think this will be in my future….Thanks for another great recipe. Jacob looks so full of fun and mischief – he will be a handful when he starts motoring on his own! And so cute that you’ll forgive him for most of his mischief (speaking from experience with my 4 yr old monkey!)

You defintely don’t need a special occasion to make cake, it’s good just to have it there for those moments when you need it (which let’s face it is pretty often ;-)). I love the freshness of this recipe, the colours of your photos and the fact that it’s a yoghurt cake which I first discovered through you. Can’t wait to try this for myself.

I found blackberries for $1.00/lb this week, needless to say I scooped up all three pounds they had left and made a small batch of blackberry jam. I cannot wait for the fruits to start flowing in this summer. The cake looks great, would you oppose swapping sour cream for the yogurt? I’d like to make it now but have no plain yogurt in the house.

Ah ha. I once made a yoghurt cake in France with my French Exchange partner, but she used a sachet of some leavening something or other that I never managed to translate and find here, so this is great – now I can make yoghurt cake again! Thank you.

How yogurty is the taste? I am not a fan of eating yogurt, but I have used it successfully in recipes before, where there is enough flavoring to cover. Does this taste a lot of yogurt, or does it just end up carrying the texture? Or maybe I’ll use the previous commenters idea and swap out sour cream.

Total serendipidity – I already had all of these ingredients and just returned to the store minutes ago with a pint of blackberries that I too couldn’t resist! This will make a wonderful gift to my office as I start my new job tomorrow.

I just tried to make a yogurt cake the other day it was umm… not so good to say the least. This looks like everything my cake wanted to be when it grows up. And I fully support eating cake for breakfast since I am currently eating leftover apple crisp a la mode for breakfast.

I’ve gotten more into this type of cake since your convincing post about how appropriate they are to serve as a dinner party dessert. It’s true! They give that bite of something sweet that we like after dinner without stealing the limelight from a showcase meal. These are perfect “visiting cakes” as my MIL used to say, as well. I may just serve this with the flambed brandied strawberries I tried the other day. Thanks for this, Deb.

Your timing is so perfect that I’m wondering if you’re psychic – I am making my own yogurt and as I experiment with different methods sometimes I end up with way way more yogurt than a person can eat in a week. Now I’m going to use this for Thursday’s dinner party dessert.

One of the “best things I ever ate” was a blackberry sauce over vanilla ice-cream. The backberries were from a friends backyard and I thought he just crushed them then mixed with sugar and a few drops of Meyer lemon juice. I’m sure he cooked (or maybe just heated it to melt the sugar?). I’ve have to ask. All I know is I want to be your next door neighbor so I can come lick the plates. And check to be sure Jacob’s locks are real. I’ve never seen a cuter baby or one with such a beautiful head of hair. I bet the two of you get “oh’s” and “ahhhs” all the time.

And yet another recipe I simply have to try out. I love your recipes – all of them – but sadly I lack time to make every single one. This one WILL be made in the near future (as soon as I’ve found time to go shopping for yogurt) and I’m looking forward to feeding my fellow students again.
Do you think, it would also be an effective cake to make a boy fall for one? ^^

These pictures make me simply happy with the already dived into slice and the empty, save crumbs and smears, plate and fork. I love that this cake uses oil rather than butter – which does officially put it into the “all day category” in my brain. I’m excited about this – thanks.

Haha, I fell for the sale blackerries and a bag of limes at WF this week too! How funny. I love the idea of this sauce stirred into yogurt. Yum! And this cake looks wonderful. I wonder if a yogurt cake might be good with walnut oil? Maybe vanilla instead of lime in that case… if I go for it I’ll let you know!

Considering how your lemon-yogurt-anything cake and your grapefruit yogurt cake and your raspberry buttermilk cake are three of my all-time favorites, this one will definitely have a turn, too! I’ve never baked with limes, and I’m looking forward to it.. bring on the zing. (If I remember right, you’ve got a lime-zesty cookie on the the site, as well…)

Thank you for reworking the recipe to make it a one bowl cake. Lately I’ve been baking more than ever, which means I’ve been spending more time than ever doing dishes. Maybe someday I’ll be lucky enough to have a dishwasher, but until them recipes that use fewer dishes are very welcome!

I made this tonight, and it was a hit~! Although my older boy (6yrs) took one look at the sauce and cake while baking and decided he didn’t want any…he had to pieces….he’s learning that sometimes things [i bake] don’t look as good as they taste!!

just made a double batch of this blackberry sauce and froze half for next weekend when i have time to make the cake. going to use the other half this week on top of yogurt and maybe stirred into some club soda for a blackberry agua fresca type of thing! yum!

i too just indulged in the 2 for $5 special at whole foods (but in louisville)… and was looking for something to do with blackberries i did not use to top the awesome pancakes i made this morning using the tips you so wisely imparted in pancakes 101. this cake looks lovely and delicious. and thanks… i consistently find your site both entertaining and incredibly useful. zei guzundt.

I made this tonight. The flavor is mild and the cake is moist and dense. It is more of a muffin texture than anything – a bit chewy. It looks exactly like the picture and we’re eating it plain so maybe it improves with the sauce- a bit underwhelming on its own. Though we plan to freeze and eat for breakfast.

I just finished serving this to friends who came over for coffee and dessert. We all loved it! It was moist and full of lime flavor! I had to make my sauce from frozen raspberries, but it was still utterly fantastic. I’m such a fan.

Mmmm. We are inundated with oranges here. I’m thinking orange yogurt cake with oranges and fresh strawberry coulis. I love the one bowl adaptation. Your son is adorable! Pulkes…my daughters had the cutest pulkes. They’ve lost theirs, but mine seem to be getting bigger. Perhaps too much cake.

i didn’t see those blackberries at whole foods this afternoon… i was too busy loading up on cheap champagne mangoes.
that cake looks soooo good. i read about yogurt cake in cooking on rue tatin and have always wanted to try it.

This looks great! If it wasn’t 95 degrees today in Cairo, I might consider making it. However, we’re due to cool down on Wednesday, so I am putting this on my calendar. Alas, no blackberries here, but we have already gotten the most delicious, custard-y local peaches. Do you think peaches would be a good substitute for the blackberries or should we go with strawberries?

I’ve made Clotilde’s yoghurt cake many times, I also did a lemon and a coconut version once (used flavoured yoghurt and toned down the sugar). It’s my 90 year old aunt’s favourite (as it’s so moist) and won over my yoghurt-hating dad as well.

This reminds me of a yoghurt cake I used to make often from one of those children’s recipe books (and that I still find use for as an adult). That recipe uses unsweeted fruit yoghurt to make a wonderfully moist and lightly fruited cake. Thanks for sending me back down memory lane!

deb,please i need to know why did u reduce the amount of flour if u were adding more liquid (lime juice) to the original recipe (it had 2c flour). it will help when I am trying out new recipes and want to substitute or add new ingredients.. thanks a mill

I work in a particle physics laboratory where we rotate making cakes on Friday, so I am always looking for excellent cake recipes! This might have to replace Ina Garten’s lemon yogurt cake as my go to recipe….(at least for a while….)

Ooh, great combination with the blackberry and lime! I absolutely love Clotilde’s yogurt cake, have made it twice in the last month, and will be making it again this weekend since my boyfriend has requested it for his birthday. This time I’m going to try making a 3-citrus cake, with lemon, lime, and orange. And thanks to your post, maybe a berry sauce too!

Providence, I tell ya, providence. I cleaned the fridge this morning and happened to find exactly one cup of my homemade yogurt. I am now straining it as I type so it will be nice and thick. I also happen to have some blackberries in the freezer that are crying to be used. AND!!! wait for it—two limes in the same said fridge that is getting cleaned out. I do believe I shall make this cake.. By the way, I also made another new york cheesecake on Friday and it turned out wonderfully. No burnt crust. Thank you very much!

Looks beautiful! Do you prefer this version over the Barefoot Contessa version you made a couple of years ago? I adore Ina’s version and have made ridiculous variations on that one — including fat free yogurt and so on — and this one looks a little less moist than that one. True or not?

i’m sure this has been asked of you a thousand times, but here’s 1,001. why haven’t you written and published a cookbook yet? i’d buy it in a heartbeat. i’ve now made a number of your recipes, all except one w/fantastic results–chana masala, hazelnut thumbprint cookies, clementine cake, poppy lemon cake, yogurt berry cake (this one was kind of a disaster, not sure why–too wet in the middle and though i kept baking it past the suggested time, it never cooked all the way through!), and the sesame peanut noodles. the above cake is tempting too, though now i’m a little weary of baking with yogurt. anyway, this is all to say, i love your recipes, and please compile the very best ones in a beautifully illustrated book for all to buy!

This look delicious! I have enjoyed baking with yogurt in the past, and this looks like such an unusual flavor combo that I will have to try it! One question– I’ve been using applesauce lately as a substitute for vegetable oil when called for, in everything from pancakes to brownies, and it’s worked out really well–usually you can’t taste the apple at all. Do you think this could work here too? Have I just been having excellent luck, or have you heard of this substitution before? It seems healthier but still tasty, so I couldn’t figure out why I hadn’t seen it more often.

Jackie — I have heard of it. I’ve also seen someone ask about this in the comments of another yogurt cake recipe and the author’s advice was that it should work fine, however, it’s probably best for a yogurt cake that you’ll be serving on day one. It is more likely to dry out sooner otherwise.

Ariel — I am nearly positive that this would also work in a loaf pan. I’d oil it well and line the bottom with parchment. “Nearly positive” because I haven’t tested this recipe in that kind of pan but I’ve made other yogurt cakes with similar proportions that fit in one.

Jill — I think this could work as muffins. It’s not an exact science to change a recipe to muffins however, in general, you want to fill your muffin tins to between 2/3 and 3/4 full and most muffins bake for between 15 and 20ish minutes, so it’s best to start checking a minute or two before then. And of course, we always like to hear how things went. I am sure others would like to make the same pan size change.

Lovely recipe (as usual). Your recipes are a refreshing change from the box mix, frosted, overly-sweet cakes we have become accustomed to from our childhood. Being a scratch cook/baker, I no longer use cake mixes, realizing when I made the transition that they had a slight off-taste. Berries are becoming less expensive with our warmer weather so I am going to have to give this a try. Loved seeing Jacob’s smiling adorable face again.

I’m wondering why you decreased the flour amount from 2 c. to 1 2/3 c. (from Clotilde’s recipe). Omitting the 1 T and using 1/4 c. lime juice, won’t that make a smaller cake? or overly moist (is that possible?). Anyhow, I’m going to make this one. I love the sauce idea. I have made yogurt cake in the past (a recipe from another source but similar to Clotilde’s) and served it with fresh berries. Let’s just say there were no leftovers to wrap up to test shelf-life! Yum! I love your blog!

Yum. Just…yum. I saw this while I was at work and knew a detour for limes and blackberries was in my future. This came together so quickly, and the batter is just delicious. Can’t wait for it to come out of the oven!

I just made this cake as I had just enough yogurt and limes in the house. It is light and moist, and even a non-baker like myself couldn’t screw it up. I thinned out some raspberry preserve I had in the fridge with hot water to make the sauce. This would be a lovely brunch offering.

This was exactly what I was looking for! I made mine in a bundt pan, baked at 350 for 35 minutes, subbed in vanilla with a hint of cinnamon, and used 1/2 sour cream and 1/2 yogurt (didn’t have limes or enough yogurt in the fridge) and it turned out perfectly! I made one yesterday, and it’s already gone. Will have to make another one tonight. Thank you for pulling this one together and sharing it! I’m putting this in my “permanent file” collection.

I just finished making this – lemon with blueberry sauce (didn’t want to go to the store again today). The sauce is so simple and just delish – and I’ve already snitched a little scrap of the cake and it is divine! Dinner seems so far away right now, I can hardly wait to have a proper piece!

I made this cake today after reviewing the recipe this morning. I was amazed by how easy this is to make and no mixer was such a plus! I used lemons, frozen wild blueberries and extra light olive oil as that is what I had on hand. I also used 2% Greek yogurt. It turned out great. This is only the second from scratch cake recipe I’ve ever made and it turned out perfect. Thanks for sharing this. I visit your site regularly and just love it. Keep up the wonderful work! BTW the granola bars were also very good.

Made the cake tonight and it looked SO YUMMY, but guess I overfilled my 9-in cake pan, and the batter overflowed all over my oven. Word to the wise: this will probably make two (thinner) layers if you’re making it in a 9-in tin! I’ll be trying again tomorrow…

I’ve been meaning to try making a yoghurt cake for, oh, years. Lime and blackberry sounds astounding but I’m also kind of liking the idea of using olive oil and then either lemon or orange and finishing with a scattering of icing sugar or a few caramelised pistachios or walnuts. Hmm, might have to do a little experimenting.

I made this last night with lemon and raspberry instead of lime an blackberry. Delicious! Even my roommate — self-proclaimed disliker of cakes and loather of all citrus flavored deserts — went back for seconds!

I’m allergic to blackberries (at least, I had a massive allergic reaction to blackberry syrup when I was 10 and have been too chicken to try my luck since then). Is it possible to make the syrup with raspberries instead?

I made this last night after dinner. I didn’t have a round cake pan available so i used a square browning pan. It turned out beautifully. The most grueling part was straining the sauce. I had a very fine mesh, and perhaps I should have used more water, but separating sauce and seeds took the entire time the cake was baking.

If you click on my name, it will take you to the image I uploaded at flickr.

Wow, so many comments. This might already have been talked about. Sorry, if it is redundant.
1st off Deb you are incredible! THANK YOU so much for all your goodness!
My cake is in the oven, MOST of it is still in the 9″ cake pan…..however……..lots of it overflowed! I think that a spring foam with tall sides would be the only way to go with all that baking soda!! Can’t wait to try.

I have three lemons calling to me for homemade lemon curd (and possibly more, because I am a lemon addict), and this would be perfect with a bit of lemon zest in it and a dollop of lemon curd and whipped cream on top.

Oreth – I don’t have a strainer at all. I have a mesh colander that might have worked, but I think the mesh isn’t fine enough. So I skipped the straining all together and left the seeds in. (I used raspberries, not blackberries.) Of course, it makes a very different texture than it would have had otherwise, but I found it to be very pleasant with the cake.

I made this last night with juice from an orange and lowfat vanilla yogurt my toddler has decided she doesn’t want anymore. Came out beautifully. I didn’t make the sauce, just dusted with powdered sugar. So moist, delicious!

This looks so delicious and I am already a huge fan of yogurt cakes. I have my own go-to recipe for a raspberry lemon yogurt cake, and I am almost afraid to post the recipe on my blog for fear my friends will know how easy it is to make the cake that has wowed them at countless gatherings and parties. :) Your flavor combo sounds like an interesting twist, and perfect for spring!

I’ve been reading this site for a couple of years now and this is honestly the first time that I’ve shut off the computer and gone and made something right away! Since I had lemons and strawberries hanging around the house, I made that variation instead. The cake was nice and moist, with a good crumb, and I loved the strawberry sauce. However, I would’ve liked more of a lemony zing to it, so I think I’d add more lemon zest next time. Absolutely delicious, thank you!

Sarah — Not at all! I love the creativity. In fact, I was in a meeting today where someone said they couldn’t believe all of the crazy things that people did to recipes and I said that I thought it was awesome. There’s no need to etch recipes in stone when there’s a riff that would be better suited to your taste, right?

Liz: I have a weird thing about textures, especially ones containing seeds. I don’t generally eat strawberries or raspberries due to this. As such, I was overly OCD about straining them.. and I’m glad I did it.

Yogurt cakes have been a revelation for me because I am seriously lactose intolerant and all the butter and milk in sweets can upset my tummy. I loooooved your chocolate yogurt cakes recipe and will definitely try this one soon!! Thank you!!

Just finished this one, and it turned out beautiful. I usually love lime, but I am wondering if I mis-measured something as the taste of lime overpowered the blackberry flavor in mine. This was very easy to make otherwise.

I used a 9″ cake pan with 2″ high sides and had no overflow. But I can see that a shorter pan might not have held the batter. Mine has lemon yogurt plus a little sour cream to bring it up to eight ounces, lemon zest and juice. It just finished its ten minute cooling, so don’t know how it tastes yet. I think we’ll be having cake for breakfast!

Thank you for this recipe and so many others! In the words of my spouse, “This Smitten person, she’s good at what she does!” And this truism was uttered in between mouthfuls of this lemon-yougurt cake with blueberry sauce.

So I did this sinful thing you suggested. This cake. This yogurt thing. I was skeptical but thought, OK. Blackberries were even on sale. But did I buy them? NOOOOOO! I was lured by the sinfully expensive blueberries the way some women are lured by a gorgeous pair of shoes. OK, maybe not that bad. I substituted lemons for limes and OH MY GOODNESS!!! I LOVE this cake. This is the perfect tart-sweet heavenly any time kind of cake that made my husband look sideways at me wondering just how many pairs of aforementioned shoes I might have purchased. Cynic.

I have this in the oven now. Smells yummy. I did mine with lemon and strawberry sauce. My yogurt was a little bit expired, but passed the taste test, so we shall see how it turns out. Like a previous commenter said, THANKS for the inspiration. When I try out your baked goods I like to share so I don’t eat too much. I’m always getting comments, so it makes me feel special!!!

I made this Sunday night with orange instead of lime and dusted it with powdered sugar…so tasty. I was hoping for a bit more of a pronounced orange flavor, but maybe I’ll play with it a little.

I brought it with me to school on Monday and called it “Because it’s Monday” Cake. It was gone by the time I went home. My college friends are still amazed that I bake so much. I let them think it’s more difficult than it is. =D

I just made this and it turned out so good!! I ate 2 HUGE pieces and didn’t even feel guilty cause this was the healthiest cake I have ever eaten.I always made cakes with lots of heavy cream and chocolate for the frosting so the light blackberry sauce made me feel like I was having fruit instead of cake. I had no idea yogurt cakes could be so good and easy to make. Thank you!!

I made this yesterday and it was sooo easy! (one bowl? love.) Used greek yogurt and lemon, with a strawberry topping since it was all I had. It was yum! Like a twist on strawberry shortcake. Had to seriously restrain myself from putting a huge dollop of fresh whipped cream on it. I baked mine ~35 minutes and it was slightly undercooked in the center but it was such a beautiful golden color I just took it out anyhow. Thanks for the recipes!

I made this easy little cake because of the blackberry sauce and it was delicious! I used lemon with it because my peculiar taste has determined that lemon enhances berries that are blue or purple, limes works for me with cherries, raspberries and strawberries and oranges works best with the yellow fruits, like pinapple and melons. Crazy, huh?

I made it healthier by using lowfat yogurt, splenda, and applesauce instead of oil. Came out super moist and tasty. Used a lined cupcake tin and it came out fine. Easier on my diet for portion control that way! :D Also the only thing I did differently with the sauce was use splenda instead- delicious! Good on pancakes too instead of syrup ;)

I made this Monday, ignoring final exams and papers in favour of baking and potlucks. It was delightful, even after I used too-small pans and made a mess all over my partner’s roommate’s oven (eep!). The classmates I fed it too were all in a tizzy!

One question, if you have time/insight: I never usually sift my flour for lack of a sifter/patience, however upon rooting through an unfamiliar kitchen I found one and decided to use it to avoid using a 2nd bowl. When I reached the bottom of the dry ingredients, however, there were tiny yellow-ish granules that were left over. They really unnerved me, and I have no idea what they were… the borrowed flour was unbleached, but not whole wheat, so I don’t know if it could have something to do with that. Have you ever encountered this? Should I be worried?

Thanks so much for your blog; I absolutely adore it. A constant source of inspiration and stress relief!

Thank you for the wonderful recipe! I threw it together for a birthday dinner party last night. I made a rhubarb ginger jam (inspired by a rhubarb jam topping a tart, the recipe for which I found in the current issue of ReadyMade); it was delicious. Though, I will have to remember to pick up some blackberries to make it again, the way that you did.

Deb–quick question, though with the 187 comments someone might already have asked…Did you not cook the blackberry mixture at all to thicken it? I did because it sounded just like a blackberry coulis my mom makes and it turned out great. I was worried a non-cook version might be too thin and runny. Thoughts?

Sarah B — It is a coulis. I prefer berries raw; they have such a delicate flavor that gets lost when you cook them. I called it “sauce” because it hopefully makes it sound as approachable as it is. It’s not particularly thin, surprisingly; I think it’s because a lot of the fibers come with it when you press it through a fine mesh strainer. Only the seeds (which I loathe in blackberries) get left behind.

Thanks for the recipe…..I made it yesterday and it’s delicious. I wanted to cut the sugar a bit (I try to on most recipes), but was afraid changing the proportions would screw up the cake…actually it wasn’t too sweet…probably because of the yogurt.
I’m definitely making this one again…so simple!

Delicious & a little exotic…never had a lime cake before. To Barbara S. who likes to reduce the sugar…I thought I’d try subbing King A. whole wheat flour and olive oil for a healthier version. Worked out great.

Deb, I am now making goats’ milk yogurt and this cake is puuurrrfect for it. I have a bag of limes in the fridge and am going to try to do a combination of currant sauce and blackberry jam to see if I can get enough drizzle to make it work. I love the dark and sensual quality of blackberry and/or black currant juice, reminds one of the best balsamic (earthy, intense, dark and a bit mysterious) vinegars with fruit. And with a creamy, fluffy lime cake? Sublime!

It was delicious! Moist with a dense texture. I used Strawberries for the sauce. LOVE that strainer idea! Took out sooo many seeds. Even the batter that oozed over the sides was fabulous! Thanks again. And so fast easy to make!

Sorry if this was already asked and I missed it – do you think extracts could be used in place of the citrus juice and zest? (I’m one of those citrus-dessert loathers.) I’m envisioning an almond yogurt cake with cherry coulis, or even just a moist “naked” coconut yogurt cake, but I’m not sure how to approach the substitutions.

I made a version of this cake with orange zest and juice and served with with rhubarb compote flavored with a little orange zest too, and whipped cream. it was incredibly good. Oh and i used half olive oil and half safflower. Delicious. Thank you!

Just finished making this cake for some friends and it looks good, but it’s only about an inch high. Should it have risen more if so, what did I do wrong? I used an 9inch spring pan and it didn’t rise very much…hmmmm. Thx.

My whole office loved this cake–you inspired me to schlep to the store and make this even after a 9-5 job and evening class. It was very much worth it. (Note: If you use strawberries for your sauce you really don’t need too much water.)

Just had to make a second lemon-with-raspberry-sauce version of this as the first got eaten within 24 hours!! Husband and kids very keen, and I can tell myself that it’s healthy due to the yogurt and lack of butter!!

i’ve been a fan of your site for quite a while now and tried many of the recipes. :)
i did this cake yesterday, using plain yogurt, the zest of two limes instead of one, added a little pack of vanilla sugar and used raspberries for the sauce. the batter had an amazingly fluffy texture and was light green because of all the lime zest (so lovely!) and as for the sauce it took quite a while to press it through the strainer but it was worth the time and effort! absolutely delicious! the only thing i didn’t like about the cake so much is that the crust as it is a bit too…well, crusty for my taste. but maybe that’s just because of my oven. still, will make another one tonight as a surprise for my friends!

There is something so fun about this cake! We made this last night with blueberries and lemon juice for the sauce, orange and lowfat yogurt in the cake, and finished it off with a sprinkling of cinnamon. Delicious! Sadly we are finishing the last slices as an afternoon snack on a rainy afternoon… Thanks for the great recipe!

Yum. Made it with lemon because limes aren’t available here right now, but stuck with the olive oil idea.

I haven’t tried yogurt cake this way before, and I wanted something really simple to make with a couple of co-workers who were coming home with me after work Friday, so we made this together. We all enjoyed it, and ate half of it in one sitting!

I actually combined this recipe with one from Food Network Canada’s web site, because I wanted to try the measure-with-yogurt-cups method. That recipe was almost exactly 1/2 of yours, except that it also had 2 eggs, so we guesstimated and put in 3, following your order of mixing and then making two 8″ round layers. It came out great, very thin layers but not “too” thin, and quite a flavor explosion with fresh strawberries on top!

Yum, yum, yum! This is an excellent cake for breakfast. I made it last night, but we had something else for dessert. So, we had it for breakfast and it was delicious. By the way, for the sauce I used half blackberries and half strawberries and the combination was amazing. Thanks, Deb.

Great recipe! I made this for a party last night – I found it to be quick, easy, and stress free. I thought I had made a mistake while mixing because the batter was so lumpy, I guess I expected it to be smoother (did I do something wrong with mixing it?).
I just finished reading a section in “CookWise” about making cakes using the concept of volume rather than measurements with ingredients to get the texture of cake you want…I may use this recipe as my test subject to try a few varieties!

Just a follow up to my previous comment. I made this with olive oil, lemons and pistachios on Thursday and have been enjoying it for the last few days so thank you for giving me the final nudge to make this cake. I will absolutely be making it again.

I made this cake and it was delish!
No blackberries, so I used some homemade blackberry preserves and bulked it up w/ a few fresh blueberrys. My coworkers and husband all loved it as well.
I actually preferred it plain

Since this has yogurt, what do you think of only using baking soda and no baking powder? You know, acidic medium etc. I know of a different yogurt-based cake that uses only baking soda. Please let me know.

I saw this cake and thought it would be a perfect thank you gift to one of my cousins for doing me a huge favor. Since it was said that there would be extra sauce, I made two cakes. They turned out great. So yummy! I made the blackberry sauce and a strawberry sauce. Thanks again for sharing your cooking adventures with us.

My folks had company over last night, so I used them as guinea pigs. Overwhelming success–two of them went back for seconds, and one of them (my dad) usually doesn’t like sweet things! The batter is delightfully tangy, and the cake still has that zing after you bake it. I love the sauce–it really makes the cake pop.

I might try it out for Mother’s Day/my graduation (since they’re one day apart). Still have limes and blackberry sauce left! When it’s summer, I’m going to try that raspberry/lemon combination–that sounds heavenly!

I went to a friends house for a last minute dinner invitation and I whipped this up so quickly! Seriously it took about 20 minutes – so great! I used some homemade yogurt, meyer lemons and frozen blueberries. The cake was so moist – I can’t wait to have some leftovers for breakfast! I can’t wait to try different variations – thanks for the great recipe.

Great spring zesty recipe! I used kefir, and a bit less lime juice to compensate for the more liquidy yogurt, and it turned out wonderfully. The berry sauce really makes it though, perfect sweety complement – I left mine a bit chunky and unsieved-ilized. Like me :)

Deb, I’ve been an avid reader for several months, but never compelled to post a comment until now. First – FANTASTIC site! Second – I made this cake and thoroughly enjoyed it. In the spirit of not “etching the recipe into stone” I made it with lemon zest and juice, olive oil, 1/3 cup Splenda and 2/3 cup sugar, non-fat Greek yogurt and in a loaf pan. Result = Awesome. I used frozen wild blueberries to make the sauce and my boyfriend had to be stopped from having 3rds. Thank you for all the inspiration and fantastic posts!

I’ve made this twice now, and it is just absolutely delicious. My favorite thus far has been the cake made as is, served with sliced fresh strawberries on the side. No powdered sugar, no coulis, no whipped cream. Just cake and berries. Had it for breakfast this morning with a cup of coffee and it was a sheer delight.

After making this today, I think I will now only ever make yogurt cakes. So easy, so moist, so humble.

Well, that’s not true, I will make other cakes. But yogurt cakes (and this one in particular) have nestled firmly in my cooking heart. Thank you for such a simple and delightful recipe.

I found this recipe to be very true to its word, however up here in Canada we must import bigger limes or something, because the zest from one lime that I used may have been too much, as the cake was ever-so-slightly fally-aparty. Or it looked like it wanted to. Anyways, for those who are using limes that are more the size of a lemon, perhaps only zest 1/2 or 3/4 of it. Or perhaps I did something else wrong to make it not as sturdy, who knows. :)

I came to your site after months of not being here (ok, I work full time and also in grad school) looking for a potluck recipe for my team. I had two requests — cake, and lemon/lime. Of course you come up with the perfect thing. Everyone loved it, including the lemon-requester who stated “this is just like what was on Smitten Kitchen this week!” Busted. Keep up the good work.

I made this cake last night and everyone loved it. It really was SO easy and fast to make. A few tiny changes I made- I used zest of 2 limes, added 1/4 cup sweetened coconut and did not strain the blackberry sauce…i love the seeds. Thanks for another great and super easy recipe!

Have it in the oven now. I made it with gluten free flour and batter so is bubbling over the edges of the 9″ round pan. Double checked the recipe, not sure what went wrong! Should I have put it in two pans?

I made this with orange to go with some rhubarb compote I had in the fridge and it turned out mighty tasty. One question, though – if I am making a variation with less acid (e.g.orange) or no acid (e.g. vanilla), will I have to adjust the leavening? And likewise, will I have to add a quarter cup of some other liquid to keep the balance right if I don’t use citrus?

Wow. This one was on my to-do list ever since you published it, but I’ve only just gotten around to making it. I’m now in love with the texture of yogurt cake. I did the lemon/raspberry combination because that is what we had on hand, and all seven kids plus the husband liked it, so it’s a definite winner here. I think I may try the muffin variation soon.

Hi Deb.. I’d love to make and ship this cake to my mother (in FL) for Mother’s Day this weekend, but I was wondering: If I were to vacuum-seal the sauce in a bag, using my vacuum-sealing thingie (the kind of vacuum-sealer you’d use for long-term frozen items), do you think the sauce would be safe to ship? or do you think I should I forego it? I’m not sure if vacuum-sealing would reduce the chances of it spoiling. How many more times can I type the words “vacuum” and “seal”?

Had an ah-ha moment. My cake ran over the edges and all over the oven, read every post, wondering why few others had this happen. Finally realized I can be pretty brain dead, only used one cup of flour, not the other 2/3 cups. Now I am thinking that flat cakes are from going heavy on the flour and overflowing cakes are too light on the flour. Will try again to get it just right, Goldilocks.

I realized only after I started making this recipe that I didn’t have limes. So I used lemon and it worked out great.
I put this on my kitchen counter, went for a walk, came home and … poof! the cake magically disappeared. (Either it was the little house gremlins or my family.)
P.S.
This is my favourite website.

Have to say that I followed this recipe to the letter, used a 9-inch cake pan, and had a bubbling mess of cake batter that flowed like lava over the edge of the pan and onto the oven floor. I see in the picture you made this in a springform, but in the recipe you say a springform or a cake pan… Just here to say I *really* don’t think a cake pan works.

The cake I was able to salvage had this bizarre wet spongy texture and kind of a spoiled milk flavor… While I’ve had great luck with most of your recipes, for some reason, this one went really really wrong in my house…

Emily — Sorry you had such a disaster! However, whether the sides of the pan sprung open or not shouldn’t have caused the explosion… Unless you just meant that it overflowed because you didn’t have enough space? Hope to help.

Hey Deb — yes, meant that it overflowed because there wasn’t enough room in the pan… Kind of makes sense, given that the batter filled more than half of the cake pan to start with, and there’s a whole lot of baking powder and baking soda in there — in all, more than twice the leavening as for the hot milk sponge cake I often make in the same 9-inch pan.

I’ve been a lurker and frequent user of your site for about a year now, but this is the first time I feel compelled to comment – because I LOVE THIS CAKE! I made it last night and was astounded at how good it was. The only substitution I made was to replace half the flour with ground-up oatmeal, since I (gasp!) ran out of flour. Thanks for this magnificent recipe!

This cake turned out awesome! I loved it. I used frozen berries and didn’t need any extra water. Tying to break my family from my sisters super sweet carrot cake is not going to be as easy as I thought. Didn’t get the reaction that I was hoping for. I love your blog, love your recipes. Thank you!

Hmm, my sister made this cake for me this morning in a non-springiform, regular 9″ diameter and 1.5″ deep round pan. I prepped the pan for her with a round cutout of parchment paper and butter smeared along the sides, and then had to run to get ready for guests, but I’m pretty sure she followed the cake recipe to the letter, except subbing lemon juice because we had no lime, and omitting lemon zest because we didn’t have fresh lemon (just a lot of pure lemon juice). She used Liberte 2% yogurt because I had a ton left over from my mom visiting two weeks ago. I didn’t have time to make a sauce before our guests arrived, so I just dusted with confectioners sugar and sprinkled some blueberries on top.

We had no problem at all with overflow. The cake tasted good to us; my husband normally dislikes sweets — and thus isn’t entirely a fan of my SK-inspired orgy of baking lately — but he really enjoyed this because it had the kind of subtle flavor he prefers. I suspect he also loved that it could be washed up after quickly. (Please, more recipes for not-too-sugary, one-bowl-and-thus-minimal-mess-in-our-on-the-rental-market-kitchen desserts!)

I made this last night and won over a skeptical boyfriend (“Yogurt? And what the hell kinda cake doesn’t have frosting?”). I made a slight variation on the sauce using raspberries instead of blackberries, and we thought that the strong berry flavor overwhelmed the lighter flavors in the cake. We’re eating the sauce with yogurt this week and having the rest of the cake on its own. Thanks for a great recipe!

I’ve made this twice now. Once as written, but I used 1% yogurt because that’s all I had. The flavor was good, but the texture was disappointing. So, I tried it again with whole milk yogurt, and put rhubarb in instead of lime. The texture was right on, and I think the rhubarb worked well with it, but I’d put more in, and maybe a tiny bit of cinnamon.

Anyway, great cake! Of all the food blogs I follow, this one seems to have the most consistently good, doable recipes. Thanks!!

Just made this, but Whole Foods didn’t have the 2% yogurt I wanted (Fage doesn’t have a kosher symbol on it) so I used 0%. I know that’s against the rules and I fear for the texture, but I’m not cutting into it until tomorrow when my in-laws come (experimenting in the kitchen for the in laws! yikes!) so we’ll see how that goes.
The batter tasted excellent, though. I ate quite a bit of it.

hi there
made the cake yesterday (without the sauce) and it was wonderful! couldn’t believe that it is only 2% yogurt !
one question:
I can’t find a yogurt in 1 cup size, in my country they sell it in a 200ml cup.
can you recommend another solution besdies buying 2 cups and throwing/eating leftovers?
many thanks
adi

hello- tried a version of this recipe recently, it was delicious- I’m not such a big fan of citrus in sweets (something I have to work on, I know!), so I omitted the lime, also couldn’t find any blackberries, but I substituted olive oil for vegetable oil and it turned into an olive oil cake, so good!

AMAZING. Deb, you consistently have the most wonderful recipes. Thank you for sharing them with all of us! I took a piece to our curmudgeonly neighbor yesterday and today, for the first time in 6 months, he waved at me as I drove by! You’re a miracle worker.

Great recipe! My substitutions were sour cream instead of yogurt, orange juice and lemon zest instead of lime, and I used blackberries with orange juice for the sauce. The cake was incredibly moist, and the sauce a great addition to it. Might try it with a random grapefruit I just found lurking in my produce drawer. Thanks!

Thanks for a fantastic recipe! This was my first attempt at baking (I’m a college student), and it was a success! I did sub half sour cream for the yogurt, since the only yogurt I had was low-fat, but it still turned out wonderfully. I’m so excited to keep cooking. :)

I have made this cake three times now, all with slight variations on the yogurt (greek yogurt, 1% plain, non-fat plain) and the sauce (all blackberries, all strawberries, half fresh and half frozen), and without fail it turns out delightful. Thank you for such an adaptable recipe! Also, it really does work to bake the night before (a great time-saver). Thank you!

I was torn between the smitten version and Clodithe’s cake. In the end I went with Clodithe’s using fage 2% yogurt 7 oz tub plus a little extra I had from a tub I opened for “sour cream” to use on nachos. The batter seemed very, very thick. I had to spread it out in the pan. I probably should have thinned out the greek yogurt a bit. Fingers crossed, it’s in the oven now. I have some fresh strawberries that need using, hope it’s yummy :)

Please read this! This WILL NOT work with a regular 9 x 1.5″ pan (that’s the typical pan most people own) — it is too much batter. It will fill the pan nearly all the way, and it needs room to rise. I unfortunately went against my better judgment (and as a former professional baker, what was I thinking??!) and put it into the oven without reading the one person who mentioned that this happened. In the two minutes it was in the oven, it had already gone over the sides. In a sorry attempt to save it, I transferred it to a 9×2 inch pan (what most professionals use) but I am quite certain it’s ruined. Just an FYI — honestly, do not make this in a 1.5″ deep pan, do not waste your time and money, it will fail. And what a bummer, I was so excited about this recipe! I have to mourn the loss of this one before I’ll make it again. Either use a 9×2 or a regular springform pan (those usually have 2 1/2 inch sides). I still love you, Deb, but I’m going to be cranky about this for a while. :o/

Sorry to drone on, but even in the photo — you can tell this cake is more than 1.5″ high, there’s only about an inch left above the cake when it’s inside the springform….For those who were successful, it must be that they made substitutions which changed the way it rose, or they didn’t use a 1.5 inch pan. I used every ingredient as listed.

All is healed, it still tastes good! I know the texture was a bit compromised, but now I’m even more excited to have it exactly right. I would delete my cranky posts if I could — sorry about that (hello, pregnancy). My husband and 4 and 2 year olds all gave me the “you got worked up over nothing” look upon gobbling down half the cake.

This cake is fantastic! I made it the first time for my father and he kept going back for more. The first time I used the lime zest, but added 1 tsp of almond extract and sweet cherries. The second time I added the lime zest, vanilla extract and fresh raspberries into the cake, delicious! Thanks deb!

I’ve had this cake on my to-do list for a long time, and I’m so glad I finally made it. Terrific! I don’t often bake cakes, but this is one of my favorites I’ve ever made. It was light, not too sweet, very lemony, and a perfect backdrop for the blueberry sauce I made to go with it. I made a few changes, using lemon instead of lime, and subbing in a little sour cream (1/4 c.) since I was using low-fat yogurt. I’m glad I read the reviews and avoided a spillover by making two layers. I used two 9″ cake pans with 1.5″ sides. I ran out of parchment paper, so only one of the two pans had it. Both came out great, so in the future I won’t bother with parchment. I spread blueberry sauce between the two layers, then drizzled more over the tops of individual slices, along with fresh blueberries and a sprig of mint for garnish. The presentation was gorgeous. Thanks for another fabulous recipe!

Just had to say I made this cake this past weekend after waiting for an opportunity to share (since I can’t be trusted around baked goods…). We had a friend swing by for just pizza & a beer and I thought it was a perfect opportunity to see just how easy & delicious the cake actually is. We were not disappointed! Wonderful!The cake was light and moist and the lime was a refreshing change in a dessert. The blackberry sauce was a hit, too. Thank you for such a great recipe. I will be making this cake again & again!

I halved the recipe to fit into a 6×2″ cake pan and it came out perfect! I couldn’t have asked for more, especially since I made this as my personal belated birthday treat. I was so worried about it overflowing and sticking to the pan but luckily it did not. Thanks a bunch!! :D

Just one question about the batter, is it supposed to be pretty lumpy (ala pancake batter) when you add it to the pan? I kept mixing because I wasn’t sure, and I think that’s why my texture ended up a little denser than I’d hoped it would be.

Worked fine for me in a standard 9″ cake pan – no overflow at all! I used lemon instead of lime and lined the bottom of the pan with some peaches that were on their last legs. No sauce necessary – its delicious just sprinkled with powdered sugar!

I’ve made this cake 4 or 5 times, with different variations, and it’s always a hit! I even forgot the eggs once…no one noticed until the cake had been inhaled and there were 2 eggs sitting on the counter. It definitely was very pudding-like that day, but got rave reviews! I’ve since made it with 1 egg for a similar gooey effect. I’m making it again this weekend, going to try lemon with kiwi sauce!

I made this today for my birthday. It was lovely. Because I am celiac, I made it with gluten-free flour. Otherwise, I made it to the letter. If the recipe is solid enough, I have no problems converting it to gluten-free. This is such a relief to me as I have been making your recipes for ages now and didn’t want to give them up just because I can no longer have gluten. Thanks!

I made this cake this morning for breakfast, I mean dessert later tonight. I halved it, but still made it in a 9-in springform pan, for 30 minutes and it turned out great! The only thing I changed was to use orange instead of lime, and it smells wonderful . I still have time to make the sauce for tonight, but first I have to make sure there will still be some cake left!

I’ve made this a bunch of times in different variations, but on Sunday I replaced the yogurt with sour cream, the lime juice with whole milk, omitted the zest and added a tablespoon and a half of vanilla and a cup of choclate chips! My sour cream chocolate chip cake was a huge hit!

One thing I forgot to ask; does anyone else find that this cake takes a lot longer than 35-40 minutes. Mine always takes 45-50 and I live in NYC so I’m in the same climate as Deb. Also I’ve made this cake in the crappy oven in the little sliver of kitchen of my 250 sq foot studio and in a top of the line oven in my parents beautiful kitchen so it’s not the oven. Obviously it’s no big deal. I’m just curious if anyone else has the same issue.

I love this cake and always laugh because purple and green run through our home decoration. Just yesterday we painter the front door a gorgeous lavender, leaving the screen door the sagey green the door also used to be. They look great!

I just made this for the first time! I’ve been visiting it online for months but wanted to wait until the weather warmed up enough for the blackberries to be reasonably fresh. So good, my roommates all loved it. I have taken an inventory of the various flavoring possibilities in my apartment (orange, lemon, almond extract…) and will probably have to make four more yogurt cakes before I am satisfied. I love the sauce mixed with the yogurt too, what a great breakfast. Thanks! I stalk this site all the time but this was the first recipe I’ve made. Clearly I have to make more since it was easy and so delicious.

I made this for dessert for Easter and it was perfect! I made small cupcake-sized cakes (wilton flower molds), which cooked a bit quicker. I also dusted some powdered sugar over the top (to hid a couple browned spots) before serving. The cake was light and tangy, perfect after a heavy meal. And the blackberry sauce is amazing. It took a while to strain all the seeds, but completely worth it. I made extra sauce and will be using it on everything I can (I’m thinking left over yogurt from this recipe + homemade granola). Can’t wait to try out different flavours.

This took me more like 45 minutes to bake as well, which of course wasn’t a big deal. This was a perfect, light cake to have after our big Memorial Day fajitas! I’ll be making this again and again. I could just eat the blackberry coulis with a spoon, even though I didn’t take the time to strain the seeds.

Im not sure how it tastes, its in the oven now but I DEF recommend people to not use 9 inch pan. for the first five minutes I was in such a panic that it was going to spill over, and then for the next 20 mins I was sitting by the oven nervously watching the oven.

Regardless, it didnt spill over but it was VERY VERY CLOSE. The batter tasted delightful though so im sure the cake will be good too. I just had to post cause that was the most stress i went over during baking EVER.

Also, the batter is lumpy before you put it in the oven, atleast mine was. I hope it comes out okay, I used a diff yogurt because all we had was my dads turkish yogurt (which he tells me is like greek yogurt) sooo.. all fingers crossed.

a delicious cake – I’ll use it in a variety of ways. However I must have left something out of the sauce – it was soooo bland. Strained it and everything – just have no idea what I did wrong. Hated that because I used up my gorgeous fresh-from-the-market blackberries! Nevertheless the cake was a keeper – topped with a sprinkling of powdered sugar and served with sliced strawberries. Maybe next time fresh peaches.

p.s. to Lela – yes the batter was quite lumpy before baking.

The note about using 2″ regular cake pans had me stumped. Just looked at mine again and they are definitely 1.5″ and it didn’t even pretend to run over the edges! Go figure!

The batter for this tasted amazing. I think I went wrong somewhere in the mixing though, b/c the final baked texture was a bit stiff and rubbery. (Granted, I made the cake Saturday night and didn’t slice into til Monday night so that could be a factor as well.) I mixed my dry ingredients together, poured them on top of the wet batter and mixed with a spoon… Lots of little floury clumps like you’d get in a lazily mixed pancake batter was the result, so I mixed it around for quite awhile trying to get rid of them, not so successfully. Maybe I should have added the dry ingredients gradually? Double thumbs up to the blackberry sauce mixed with the yogurt! Reminded me of the Breyers “fruit on the bottom” yogurts I loved growing up that they don’t make anymore.

Just made this for the first time. I enjoyed it, but felt that maybe it needed a little more juice or zest – I wanted a little more lime flavor, especially since I felt that the blackberry sauce kind of overwhelmed the lime flavor in the cake when eaten together. But it was super easy and nice and moist. Even though all I had was nonfat yogurt. I ended up with some leftover blackberry sauce, which I then turned into a blackberry lime sherbet. Yum.

I made this yesterday for our son’s third birthday party, and it was a hit. Granted, the kids chose the store-bought cupcakes that Grandma brought (what child wouldn’t choose a cupcake?), but all the adults were fans of this cake. They took modest-size pieces at first but were soon back for another slice. My family also had it for breakfast this morning and it was even more moist and tasty than last night.

I changed it up very slightly. I made two layers, one lemon and one lime, then put a lime glaze (equal parts lime juice and sugar mixed together, then powdered sugar added to reach the desired consistency) in between them and served raspberry sauce on the side.

I made this today, exactly as written. OK, I used 2% yogurt and a 11 x 7 pan, but otherwise exactly as written. It would be worth it for twice the effort – but fortunately it’s fantastically easy. Thank you! I will make this many times.

This was probably the easiest-to-make cake that I’ve ever made. I used the Greek 2% yogurt and it was good, but I do think the whole milk yogurt would have made it a tad moister. But the flavor is great regardless. I will make it again with the whole milk and probably add just a bit more lime juice or zest. It’s good on its own even without the sauce. Yum. ps–I love this blog. It’s my favorite.

Smitten Kitchen you are a dream!! Thank you for this amazing cake! It was so perfect for celebrating my mums birthday! I put coconut in the batter as well as ontop of the cake and I baked it in a donut shaped tin and piled berries into it. My dad whipped up a pink drippy lime and coconut icing and mum, grandma, grandpa, my brother and sister all could not get enough of it! Thank you!! Great recipe!!

I made this cake once a long time ago, I feel like making it again. However, I am on a very restricted diet right now, and dessert is not part of the diet plan. So, I am going to try and substitute all the unhealthy ingredients – eggs with egg whites, half the white all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour, sugar with brown sugar. If it works out, I’ll let you guys know!

Deb, thank you so much for sharing your recipes and experiences! Even though I spend all day cooking at work, I still find myself coming home to try your recipes at least 2 or 3 times a week. Finally tried this cake (in cupcake form), substituting Meyer lemons for the limes, and absolutely adored it. So light! No icing or extra sweetness needed!

Hmm…I don’t quite know what to make of this cake. I used a mix of lemon/lime juice and then the zest of one lemon and accompanied it with a raspberry sauce. It is light, in every sense of the word (pertaining to cake anyhow). It is light in consistency…nice and fluffy and it is very light in flavor. I get a bit of the tang from the citrus and then only a hint of sweetness and I wish there was a bit more. The raspberry sauce was delicious on its own even though it was a bit thin in consistency but that was my own fault for adding too much water to frozen berries. That being said, as yummy as the sauce was on its own, it had way too much flavor for such a light cake and completely overpowered it. Also I found the sauce too fresh and tart for a cake that wasn’t sweet enough or rich enough to balance it out. I think it would be much better suited for yogurt, ice cream or as a drink mix. The cake, in my opinion, needs a little something extra and I think the sauce is just the thing if I could only find a way to incorporate that sauce without overwhelming the delicate flavors of this cake. I’m going to try a cream-cheese frosting with the sauce tomorrow and see how that goes. Thanks for the recipe, I look forward to playing around with it.

Ok so I feel like I should’ve waited to write my comment. I had the cake after it had cooled day one and my opinion is obviously as written above. Day 2 the cake is so much more moist…still light but more moist and the lemon/lime taste is far more noticeable along with that subtle sweetness and it is much more the cake I had been hoping for. It also held the sauce a lot better but I still felt like the raspberry sauce was too fresh and tangy for the cake (although it didn’t overpower it so much anymore). So I made a raspberry cream-cheese ‘sauce’ and I loved it with the cake. Because I used the raspberry sauce to dilute the cream cheese, it’s not such a heavy topping which is why I called it a sauce vs. a frosting. I used some cream cheese, some of the raspberry sauce, a bit of butter, some vanilla extract and quite a bit of sugar to achieve the desired taste. I wish I could give exact measurements but I just kind of winged it but a simple google of ‘raspberry cream cheese frosting’ should provide the basic outline I used for mine. I’m definitely going to make this cake again with a cream cheese sauce…. Easy, light and so satisfying!

Hi, so I made this over the weekend and it was fabulous. So easy and refreshing. But my cake rose on the sides more than in the middle – or perhaps the middle caved in a little along the way, I’m not sure. Does anyone have any idea why this might have happened and how to prevent it? Many thanks!

I like to report back to sites where I actually MAKE the recipe rather than merely saving it. This is my first from Smitten Kitchen and so glad I made it! While a little more effort than many of my recipes, it got RAVE reviews and disappeared almost instantly. I made it EXACTLY as you wrote and shared it with my elementary teacher pals. Will make this again perhaps changing it up like some of your followers have suggested. Thanks!

I love the simpleness and freshness factors this cake presents. I found this recipe on Pinterest and didn’t think to read the comments until after I took my picture-perfect cake out of the oven. I did make substitutions based on what I had, used RealLemon (and no zest), egg beaters, and nonfat greek yogurt. I also used half sugar and half stevia in the raw. My husband and I both loved the flavor of the batter. I think I got lucky, or maybe it was the combination of ingredients, but my cake rose level to the sides of the 1 1/2 inch side and stayed put – thankfully. It paired perfectly with the sauce and some frozen vanilla yogurt. Simply delicious!! Thank you for allowing me to create a low sugar, low fat, and cholesterol-free treat for my family. (My husband has to watch his salt, sugar, and cholesterol. So it’s really nice to have solid recipes that easily adapt to his diet.) Thank you!!

I made this a little while ago and it was delicious! looking forward to making it again.

For those thinking, hey, 1/4 cup lime juice is at least 2 limes, and there’s more in the blackberry sauce, but only 1 lime worth of zest in the cake, so can I do something with the extra zest? I recommend against adding zest to the sauce: it makes it taste too grassy. The cake can take more zest, but probably not all the extra zest.

Father’s Day cake! This cake never lets me down, it’s one of my go-to recipes for spring and summer. Thanks for such a wonderfully easy treat!! Just came out of the oven, smells divine, and will be served with sliced strawberries and whipped cream to a hungry father and our two little girls.

The cake is moist and delicious, not too sweet. Used some of the 2 lbs of black raspberries I pureed and strained yesterday for the sauce — delicious. This is the kind of cake you can eat for lunch and not feel guilty (yes, I did that)! And of course I never feel guilty eating cake for breakfast. As a side note, the green flecks of lime zest in the very golden colored cake look slightly like bits of mold. Doesn’t deter me from eating it though.

Hi Asta — You would use the same amount of butter, melted and cooled. Try to get your other ingredients (yogurt and eggs) to room temperature or they’ll cause the butter to seize which shouldn’t affect outcomes but still will keep it from incorporating as well.

I just made this cake, it is amazing!!! WoW what a great recipe, light fluffy and super super miost. This cake is very easy to make and the best one Ihave made in a long time. Make it you will love it.

Hi Deb, I’ve made this cake twice, and while it’s tasted great both times, I had the same problem as a couple of other reviewers, with the flour forming lots of little lumps when I mixed it into the batter, which were noticeable in the final product. Is there any way to avoid this?

This is delicious! I always have lumps, but I’ve never noticed any lumps in the baked cake. To make the sauce since I don’t have our blender leaks and we don’t have a food processor. I cook the mixture until simmering and then take the hand blender and purée. Then proceed with the directions. (I also use part powered sugar to help thicken the sauce because I use more water.)
Thanks Deb!:)

I made this cake tonight (but forgot the salt, oops!) and it was absolutely delicious on top of being easy! My boyfriend had to eat two slices. It’s very filling. I accidentally added too little lime juice to the blackberry sauce but it still turned out great.

Such an easy cake: I started making it when people showed up for the dinner party, delighted that I had all the ingredients on hand. My gluten free version was 1 cup of gluten-free all purpose flour + 2/3 cup almond flour: turned out moist and airy. It did sink in the middle but since it is already devoured that is nothing to worry about. The blackberry sauce is terrific.

I tried making this.. but it turned out to be more dense rather than the light fluffy cake I was expecting by looking at the picture.. =( Checked the recipe again and am pretty sure I followed it correctly.. can anyone help and let me know what could have gone wrong?

I love this cake! I make it all the time. I have made the original version, but I occasionally make it with lemon instead of lime, or with a combination of the two (depending on what I have in the fridge). I have also served it with a simple strawberry coulis or just dusted with powdered sugar. It is always delicious!

Made this cake tonight for a party. I’d never had a yogurt cake before. It was so easy and was a huge hit! Made it in a cake pan and it turned out perfect! It feels pretty awesome to make something and have it turn out exactly as it looked in the pucture. Everyone thought it was beautiful and delicious! Can’t wait to try different combinations. Thanks for the great recipe!

I have made this cake many, many times and it’s always a huge hit. One of my friend’s did ask if it could be made using almond flour rather than the AP flour, and I have no idea. I’m planning on giving it a shot this week, but any suggestions? I was also going to swap the plain yogurt for almond yogurt, I think that’ll be fine, but I have no idea what messing with the gluten will do. Any suggestions would help!

So I tried this out swapping almond yogurt for the regular yogurt and almond meal for the flour. It works, but it’s definitely not the same recipe, much more like the nigella clementine almond cake. I tried making this as a cake and as mini cupcakes, it doesn’t really work in small tins, it deflates, but as a cake it works. I would probably add an extra egg next time. It’s delicious and chewy from the almonds, but the recipe as is with ap flour is so great, it’s not worth messing with :)

I made this tonight for a dessert party and it came out beautifully and was a big hit. My only changes were 1) I added shredded coconut to the batter, and 2) instead of the blackberry sauce I used the pineapple glaze from your pina colada cake recipe.

Wait, I lied. I also used self-rising flour so I left out the baking powder/soda, but that was only because we didn’t have any all-purpose flour in the house.

just finally making this for my husband’s birthday dinner tonight, but the sauce/coulis isn’t working. using my vitamix and blackberries that i had frozen myself from fresh farmer’s market ones earlier this summer. have now added the full amount of water plus a T more and it’s still completely thick, with even the vitamix unable to make it work.

also, can you add that the pan should be 2″ minimum deep? mine is also 1.5″ and i only just now saw the earlier comment about it overflowing. 10 more minutes of baking on mine and I’m crossing my fingers! it’s way poofed up but not overflowing the sides…yet.

Have been making your lemon yogurt anything cake for a year and half now and would have again except I realised just as I was beginning that I had only two eggs in the house. Fortunately a commenter on that recipe had mentioned this cake (and the magic words, 2 eggs) so I discovered – and made – this recipe at 10 pm. You did say this is an anytime cake :). Subbed olive oil for vegetable and added the zest of another lime for a more pronounced flavour and also because I had no berries to make a coulis with. I’ve always loved the lemon yogurt cake but this may be a notch above, it’s so light and moist, with a fairly loose crumb. My batter did have lumps too but I resisted the urge to stir it frenetically and I’m glad I did – the lightness this cake achieves is magical. We hadn’t eaten dinner but that didn’t stop my husband from eating three slices of not-fully-cool cake straight from the pan. To replace the coulis I thinned the last of a little blueberry jam with warm water and a little lime juice and it was superb. The rest of the cake has been topped with a sprinkle of powdered sugar and promises to be magical for Sunday breakfast with an espresso on the side.

I tried this recipe out last night for my husband’s birthday dinner and it was a hit! I used chobani Greek yogurt because it’s all I had, and it turned out delicious! Everyone loved it, even my husband who doesn’t prefer desserts. His father had 2 pieces of cake within 10 minutes which surprised his wife. Let’s just say the birthday dinner last night consisted of individuals who aren’t into desserts (besides me).
Thanks for sharing this recipe! I LOVE your site! Best, Rachel.

Okay, so I did the superbowl all wrong. Instead of making something icky-sticky, fried, super sugary, and/or out of a box for a dessert, I made this. I couldn’t find my regular springform pan so I made this in a springform pan with a hole in the center. After it cooled, I filled the hole with vanilla bean whipped cream, sprinkled confectioner sugar over the whole cake and served with the blackberry sauce (I used lemon juice instead of lime in the sauce and I halved the sugar, it was amazing).

I plopped this bad boy down next to the chips, salsa, chicken wings and dip – and it was a hit! Moist, flavorful crumb with the perfect amount of sweetness and tartness. The whipped cream was a nice addition with the tart blackberry sauce to cut through. Will DEFINITELY make this again. Thanks!

just had my first piece (of many)! For the sauce, I used frozen blackberries and subbed the 1/8th cup water with…tequila! Next time I might even add a splash more. Would highly recommend : ) Thanks, Deb!

Made this yesterday to bring to a dinner party. Used lime 2% Chobani yogurt and only 1/2 the sugar (since the yogurt is sweetened). Cake was delicious. Didn’t put the lime juice in but I would next time since the lime flavor turned out to be very subtle and could have been more pronounced. I pureed strawberries, and they were an excellent topping. Definitely will make this again — probably tomorrow for a Book Club meeting!

Just made this tonight, and it was fantastic. I replaced the vegetable oil with lime olive oil to help boost the lime flavor, and it was perfect. I was a little worried that the olive oil would make the cake too dense, but it was still really light. Very refreshing dessert with the chilled blackberry coulis.

My absolute favourite cake of all time to make and eat! It comes together really quickly and is so versatile that you can use the same base for every summer get-together and nobody will realize they are eating the same cake. When I’m taking it somewhere where people will be eating with their hands, I just dump the fruit I would have used in the sauce right into the batter. I love cakes that are just barely sweet, so I do reduce the sugar a little, but my family would probably protest if they knew. Smitten Kitchen never lets me down!

This is a go-to: I make it at least once a month, without the sauce, as a ‘breakfast/hanging around the kitchen when you need a snack’ cake. We only ever seem to have low fat yoghurt and it’s always fine. I usually bump up the zest a little. I just ate a slice on day three and it’s better than it was fresh out of the oven.

I just made this in two different flavors, and baked them for 60 mins in loaf pans.
In the first one I used satsumas. You’ll need to pick firmer ones with thicker, closer flesh, for zesting, and you’ll need at least three.
Going off of this, https://www.washingtonpost.com/recipes/white-pepper-and-ginger-lemon-cake/7792/ I used the ratio of ginger and white pepper, but went back to your original recipe for everything else, including the lime.

I’m supposed to bring them to a Thanksgiving dinner… I’d rather eat them both while binge watching Outlander.

I cannot bake, but I baked this and it was DELICIOUS! My husband was pleasantly surprised given my previous misadventures with baking. The cake is just the right amount of lime, so moist, and a perfect “just because” cake. I will definitely be making it again!

I made this yesterday and, like all of your recipes, it was great…light, limey, but not overwhelmingly so, moist, summery and…pretty. It makes you want to display it on a cake stand like the 1 you have pictured. It’s like a modern version of a Pound Cake but not as dense (or deadly), but just as delicious, which is a vy good thing
I ran out of white flour at the 1 cup mark, so I used Whole Wheat Pastry Flour for the remaining 2/3 cups and there was no discernible difference. This of course makes me wonder what a different equation would taste like say, half WWPF & half WF.
More than half of my blackberries were unusable but luckily I had strawberries in the house, so I wound up with something like 1 part blackberries to 2 parts strawberries. Delicious.

Hello! As our summers here (Romania) are rather warm, this recipe sounds very refreshing to me. I’m a big fan of moist cakes and after some practice, I came to realize that cakes that have oil and yoghurt/sour cream/buttermilk in composition, are moist and fluffy. So if am not wrong, is this cake a moist one?
Can I cut it horizontally and put some white chocolate ganache? I know white chocolate pairs well with lemon.
Thank you in advance. And by the way, I love your recipes ☺
Monica

Perfect everyday cake! I used the strawberry coulis from another one of SK’s recipes instead of blackberries and it was delicious. I see many more of these cakes in my future…! Another fabulous recipe from SK – my go-to recipe source!

My son and I made this last night with a bag of mini-limes my grandparents gave me. It was so delicious, and so easy to make. (Full disclosure, we skipped the sauce and just made the cake.) It turned out light and airy and perfect in flavor.